On March 1, 1952, the British military ordinance prohibiting unauthorised persons from visiting Heligoland was repealed, and the island was returned to Germany. This stamp was issued to commemorate the occasion, the German inscription on top of the stamp reading: "Heligoland again free on March 1, 1952 The fishing vessel H.C.126 shown on the stamp, is a small steam trawler of Cuxhaven, of an obsolete type; the vessel has long since been taken out of the shipping registers. The registration letters H.C. belonged to Cuxhaven which until 1937 was a part of Hamburg. "HO" stood for Hamburg-Cuxhaven but soon after the war the letters of Cuxhaven were changed to N.C., taken from Niedersachen (Lower Saxony) of which Cuxhaven now forms part. There has been no H.C. registration since 1937. The vessel, named Senator Schafer, was built in 1922, of 262 gross tons, with a steam engine of 450 h.p. Her owners were the "Nordsee" Deutsche Hochseefischerei and she carried a crew of 11.
SG1078 Sea Breezes 1/53